Tara Murray
Plenty Valley will get a clear idea of where it sits in the Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association north-east in the coming weeks.
The Bats sit third after eight rounds, but have a run of three challenging matches in the next few weeks.
Having started slowly, dropping two of their first three matches, the Bats have now won six games in a row.
Captain-coach Michael Rogneda said he was thrilled with how the side was going.
“We lost a little bit of experience,” he said.
“We just replaced them with some young guys. It took a couple of weeks to get used to them.
“We’ve been executing really well the last five to six weeks.”
Rogneda said heading into the season they were unsure how they were going to replace opener Rory Collins who had moved on.
With a bunch of youngsters looking to make their mark, it’s been Aryan Sharma that has really made people stand up and watch.
“He opens the batting for us,” he said.
“He made 100 and 80 the week before. He’s just 16-years-old. We saw this coming, he kept getting out for between 25 and 40.
“I think he had the confidence and always been a big run scorer at junior level. It’s about being able to make decisions for a longer period of time.
“In juniors the second and third change bowler you might get a boundary ball every over, you don’t get that at this level.”
Sharma has had a busy summer being part of representative sides in the Youth Premier League and Victorian Premier Cricket Dowling Shield.
He isn’t alone at getting his opportunities at Plenty Valley. During their first game back after the Christmas break, a number of players got opportunities due to Covid enforced outs.
“The first week back after the break felt like junior cricket with so many kids in the team,” Rogneda said.
“We had six outs…And three players who would have come in also out.
“We had four playing their first game and a couple of others playing their second and third games.
“It’s a great club and with not many turf clubs around in our area they often come to us. It’s a privilege to coach the club and see so many young guys wanting to get down and improve across all four of our grades.”
The Bats were due to face Brunswick on the weekend, after deadline.
They then face St.Bernards and ladder leaders Kew.
Rogneda said this few weeks will set up their season.
“We want to finish as high as we can,” he said.
“If we can win the next three games it would be awesome if we could win them. If not we’ll fall back in the pack.
“If we can execute our plan and hopefully get some similar results to the last few weeks, we will hopefully have a good chance.”
For the score of the weekend’s match, go to www.starweekly.com.au
